Tagline experts will tell you a tagline must be original, memorable, and inspirational. We have probably forgotten all the bad ones we've heard over the years and remember some very good ones - "Just Do It", "You're in Good Hands …", "Think Different". If you take a look at guidelines for great taglines you'll see that none of these taglines follow the rules. For example "Just Do It" is generic, not original and doesn't inspire. However, if you back it with repetitive images of athletes working hard and achieving exceptional results through advertising and branding and word-of-mouth excitement it takes on the unique and inspirational role. Let's look at Apple's "Think Different". Besides being widely criticized for teaching our youth bad grammar, a marketing professor would ask about the specifics—who and what. When you couple the tagline with the Apple's exceptional product line and repetitive advertising it takes on a new meaning that clearly fits Apple and their products. This otherwise meaningless statement takes on an exciting association. The same can be said for "Melts in your mouth, not in your hand," "I'm lovin' it," and "The taste of a new generation." How does this apply to individuals trying to brand themselves without multi-million dollar budgets? Ask yourself these two questions: * What makes me different and unique? Your answers will include your experience, your approach, your credentials, your passions. * How does my unique skill set fulfill a need or want? Using the answers to these two questions create a key takeaway your target market should remember. Let's say you are an experienced painter that has found an inexpensive way to paint homes and buildings. You could say "Five Star Painting Without the Five Star Price". This is fairly generic, yet clearly fulfills a want and need of your customers. When placed along side of your biography or samples of your work, it becomes uniquely yours. It is very important to know the rules of marketing. Using the rules as a baseline, break the rules to create something that becomes uniquely you! If it doesn't work, try something else. Marketing is not a science or math problem where there is only one answer. It is an art that requires trial and error. Taglines are important to your personal brand. Go ahead, tag your brand! About the Author: For this and other articles by Brad Hess, please go to http://www.mymark.com/articles . MyMark, LLC is a media rich professional social networking website that gives you the tools to use social media optimization to enhance your search engine optimization and generate revenue. For this original post please visit; http://www.mymark.com/blog/blog/2010/11/17/go-ahead-tag-your-brand/ |
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